Malthus and Darwin

[William S. Lear]

On Mon, August 17, 1998 at 12:43:00 (-0400) Mathew Forstater writes:
>Bill- I know you are only quoting, but is the point that Huxley is not
>compatible with either Darwin or Kropotkin, or that neither Huxley nor
>Kropotkin are compatible with Darwin? the way it's written it sounds
>like the former, but the more provocative argument and my sense of
>what's intended is the latter. Thoughts? -

Actually, I think both Huxley and Kropotkin drew inferences from
Darwin's work that Robin believes to be reasonable.  That is, contrary
to your conclusion, I think that Robin thinks that Huxley and
Kropotkin are both "compatible" with Darwin, and that it is still an
open question.  To quote Robin again:

    Human nature was not forged in the anvil of known human history

    but rather under the neolithic conditions of prehistory about

    which we know far less. Were these conditions more likely to

    "select" individually aggressive traits or traits that enhanced

    effective cooperative behavior?

    If the answer to this question is not obvious, and if particular

    social institutions developed during recorded history would have

    elicited antisocial behavior even from people with sociable

    genetic dispositions, there is no more a priori reason to suppose

    that the "laws of evolution" have doomed us to be Hobbesian

    combatants than altruistic saints.

Does that clear things up any?

Bill